Ric Segreto - Early Life

Early Life

Ric Segreto was born in Brooklyn, New York to Bridget Segreto, an Italian-American and Godofredo G. Macaraeg, a Filipino. Ric, the second son of five brothers and one sister was raised for the first five years of his life in New York by his mother, a dietician at a New York hospital and his father was an abdominal surgeon.

Ric's father, born in Malasiqui, Pangasinan, educated at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, was a medic with the rank of Captain in the Philippine Army during World War II. He was captured by Japanese soldiers and made to march in the Bataan Death March and was imprisoned on Corregidor Island. After the War, Dr. Macaraeg travelled to the United States and attended Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Macaraeg was the first Filipino diplomate to the F.A.C.S.

Both Ric's parents' love for music influenced his interest in music and singing. The family moved to the Philippines in 1957, where his father set up a physician's practice. Ric went to Lourdes school in Quezon City. In 1959, the family moved to Guam, where growing up in a milder environment furthered Ric's interest in the performing arts. Ric played in rock bands with his brother and with the grandsons of Filipino composer Nicanor Abelardo. At the ages of 12 and 13, The Asteroids, Ric's band members, played military bars.

Ric was then sent back to the Philippines to attend high school at the Ateneo de Manila. While there he became friends immediately with Jim Paredes, who later became a member of The Apo Hiking Society. After a year at Ateneo, Ric returned to Guam. He then formed a band that included his brother, Goff,Victor James, Dean Sampaio, and Joe Guererro, called the Salvation Army, singing and playing all over the island every weekend till he finished out his high school. Going to college made Ric look to the States and choosing Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, he majored in history. During his college years, Ric played in bar bands for military service men in Bellevue, Nebraska (home to Offutt Air Force Base) and acted in college plays.